


Redamancy

by TehWhimsicalOwl



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Because plot, F/F, First Meetings, Future Fic, How Do I Tag, I have no idea what year this is in, Mia Smoak is the Green Arrow, Nora West-Allen is XS, Their parents are all dead
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-12 06:27:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29630466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TehWhimsicalOwl/pseuds/TehWhimsicalOwl
Summary: Redamancy: The act of loving in return.  From Latin "I requite love"After apprehending a metahuman in Star City and meeting the Green Arrow, Nora starts to get to know the mysterious archer, as their friendship becomes something more.
Relationships: Mia Smoak/Nora West-Allen
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9
Collections: Collection of x-star Works





	Redamancy

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my first time posting something on AO3  
> Here goes!

Nora West-Allen didn’t usually think about Star City much. It just never really came up, most of the time. But now she wished she’d done more research on the resident Star City hero. The Green Arrow.

She’d been after a metahuman with sound powers, who created harsh, discordant sounds that were actually quite painful. The tech they had for screaming metas didn’t work against this one, since it was technically a different power. She’d learnt that the hard way. Still, the new-and-improved version should hold up against the meta that she’d named Cacophony (she was quite proud of that one).

So she’d tracked down Cacophony, but he’d run to Star City. She had run on over, only to find Cacophony in an alley fighting the Green Arrow. The latter had also seemed to realize the uselessness of the anti screaming meta tech they had – it really needed a better name – but was holding her own against the powers. It was pretty impressive. She ducked as something vaguely brick-shaped flew over her head and hit the wall behind her and fell to the ground with a small thunk. Whoops. Time to actually do something about the meta situation.

Using her speed, Nora zipped in and handcuffed Cacophony, dampening his powers as he moved in slow-motion. She stopped, and the world started moving again, the Green Arrow’s punch unfreezing before being released once she saw that there was nothing to actually punch. Straightening up from the fighting stance she was in, she turned to Nora while switching her bow to her other hand.

“XS.”

Nora smiled awkwardly, unsure of what exactly the protocol was for meeting other heroes. What should she say? She decided to go simple.

“Green Arrow.” 

She could feel the other woman’s eyes on her, and she fidgeted. Then the Green Arrow smiled. “Thanks for the assist,” was all she said before she shot an arrow up and was pulled into the darkness of the night. Nora exhaled, briefly seeing her breath in the cold air. Then she ran back to Central City in a blur of purple and gold lightning.

* * *

The two heroes crossed paths several times after that first encounter, each time warming up to each other a little more. Nora had made it a personal mission to crack the Green Arrow’s icy exterior and befriend her, and it was working. She didn’t know exactly why she was drawn to the other hero, but it just felt right. The first few conversation attempts had been awkward, but Nora stubbornly persisted.

_“So, uh, what’s it like in Star City? I bet it’s way different from Central huh...” No response. Nora laughed awkwardly, to try and make it a little less weird. It didn’t work._

_“Yeah, I’ll just go... Lots of metas to handle, busy day.” She raced off, cheeks red from embarrassment. Well that just was bad. Her failure didn’t make her any less determined though._

Despite the archer’s unwillingness to make friends, Nora managed to worm her way through the cracks in her walls, her visits to Star City becoming more and more frequent as their friendship progressed. She didn’t only go there to fight metas but sometimes just to hang out, with someone who understood the weight of being responsible for an entire city’s safety. They had their own rooftop, on an abandoned apartment building near Nelson Plaza, where they usually met up.

* * *

Nora lay in her bed, staring at the ceiling of her room, her forehead slightly crinkled as she thought long and hard about something. Specifically, her secret identity. It had been two months since she had met the Green Arrow, and Nora was tired of only meeting in costume, as XS. She wanted Green Arrow to get to know Nora West Allen too. So she bore holes into the ceiling with her eyes as she contemplated a question.

_Do I trust her?_

The answer was yes. Yes, she trusted the archer she now counted among her friends. Yes, she would trust her with her secret. Now that the decision was made, she smiled and rolled to her side. She’d go visit Star City tomorrow to tell Green Arrow who she was.

After a few moments, she sighed. Of course she was tired and yet couldn’t fall asleep. Lying in bed awake wouldn’t achieve anything and she might as well go do something. Getting out of bed, she sped around the room, getting dressed and ready within a few moments. She was going to visit Star City now. Good thing the Green Arrow worked the night shift.

* * *

Nora paced on the rooftop anxiously, wondering if Green Arrow actually got her text. She hated waiting. Waiting had always been a problem for her, and it had gotten drastically worse since her powers manifested. Time always seemed to slow down when waiting for something, and it was ten times worse with her speed. She briefly contemplated time-traveling to the future in five minutes just to avoid waiting, but dismissed it.

“Hey.”

The now-familiar sound of a modulated voice rang out in the silence of Nora’s impatience, and she spun around quickly to face Green Arrow. She realised that she probably should have used all that time pacing thinking of what to say, because now her mind was blank.

“H-hey.” She stammered. _It’s now or never._ “So, um, I was thinking, I’ve known you for a while now and I trust you, so I don’t want to keep my identity a secret from you anymore.” Before the other woman could say anything, she yanked off her mask and stuck out her hand. “Hi. I’m Nora West-Allen.”

The Green Arrow froze for a moment, seeming shocked, before a smile graced her lips.

“I agree,” she said, removing her hood and sliding her mask down, curly blond hair tumbling down freely at the movement. She took Nora’s hand and shook it. “Mia Smoak.”

Nora knew she had a dopey grin on her face but couldn’t quite bring herself to care.

* * *

After the identity reveal, Nora’s friendship with Mia became a lot easier, and they began to meet up during the day, for coffee or lunch or whatever they felt like. They also talked about more personal things, like their family and friends, and they were both astonished to discover that not only did they both have dead parents but said parents had actually known each other.

_“So we’re both trying to honor our dead fathers and take up the mantle of heroes for our respective cities, and our parents were also quite good friends.”_

_“What do you know, we_ do _have something in common.”_

_“Pretty oddly specific something in common if you ask me.”_

_“You can say that again.”_

They usually met up in Star City, but sometimes Mia would take the time to come to Central City for Nora, and they often worked together against criminals, XS and Green Arrow made quite the team.

Life was good, Nora thought as she cradled a cup of hot coffee in her hands while listening to Mia telling her an anecdote from her early days as a hero.

* * *

Nora had a problem.

She was having a perfectly nice day, and was currently watching a movie with Mia, having run her over to her apartment in Central for a change. Mia was making sarcastic remarks at the screen, and complaining about all the unrealistic fight scenes ( _Seriously, what is this, it’s like that guy was just waiting to be hit. Why are they just fighting him one by one? That move is not possible. Why isn’t this guy dead yet?_ ).

They were snacking on a bag of chips and as Nora snagged one for herself, she glanced over at Mia, whose forehead was slightly creased and had an honest-to-God pout on her face. Her blond curls were for once not tied up, but set loose and settled on her shoulders after Mia’s exasperated shake of her head at the screen.

_She’s beautiful._

The stray thought made Nora blink at her own mind. She knew, objectively that Mia was attractive, but this wasn’t the first time she’d thought things like this. She passed it off as random thoughts but... It didn’t feel entirely platonic to her. She watched as Mia grabbed another chip and then gestured at the movie with said chip in hand, before eating it in one bite.

“Can you believe this? Honestly, they could put in a minimum amount of effort to make it look real.” Mia rolled her eyes, and Nora blushed faintly after realizing she had been staring. She agreed with Mia, and tore her eyes away to look at the movie, not paying attention to it at all, instead mentally berating herself. She realized the truth: she had a crush on her friend.

What was she supposed to do? She didn’t even know if there was a chance of Mia liking her back – as far as she knew the archer was as straight as her arrows.

She was doomed.

* * *

Nora sat at her desk in her lab at CCPD, absentmindedly going through some paperwork for a case, frowning as she cursed her inability to keep any sort of poker face. Over the past few weeks, since she had discovered her feelings for Mia, she had been overanalyzing every word that Mia said to her. Mia had a habit of saying things that, to Nora’s hopeful mess of a brain, sounded somewhat flirty. Nora didn’t know how much longer she could go before blurting out something, but she was so scared that it would mess up their friendship, which she treasured. She’d take friendship over losing Mia any day. At least Nora was a very touchy-feely person normally, so she had an excuse for touching Mia’s hair occasionally and engulfing her friend in hugs. It had taken some time for Mia to be accustomed to hugging, but once she was, well. No one hugged like Mia.

“Bad day?”

She looked up at the doorway, surprised to hear anyone, and speak of the devil. Mia was leaning against the doorway with a cup of coffee in each hand, looking stunning as usual. Realizing that Mia was waiting for an answer, Nora stood up hurriedly, banging her knee against the table. _Stupid._

“Oh, uh, no not really a bad day, just doing some paperwork for a recent case.”

Taking the Jitters cup offered to her, she smiled at Mia as she went to perch on the corner of a table and sip her drink.

As she let the moment wash over her, she savored Mia’s presence as well as her XS-presso – her go-to. Of course Mia knew her favorite coffee, though she had teased her about her favorite coffee being the one named after her. In her defense, it was good.

* * *

It was just another metahuman, one in Star City for once – she must have moved there before discovering her powers. Her name was Clare Jansen, her power was perception distorting. It confused your senses, making you smell everything at once and your vision distorted and moved making it difficult to do anything. The meta’s nickname was Kaleidoscope, a pretty accurate description of her powers’ effects.

Naturally, dealing with a metahuman was a good excuse for a Green Arrow and XS team-up, so Nora zipped on over to Star City and the two heroes headed out to apprehend Kaleidoscope. After a short confrontation (there may have been a few quips involved) it turned into a fight, and Nora was hit by Kaleidoscope’s powers, and momentarily stopped as she tried to regain control over her senses. Her vision shifted between blurry and focused, and the fight in front of her multiplied and danced across her line of sight, as her ears were bombarded with random sounds, her taste buds confused and a million smells invaded her nose. Phantom touches glided across her face, and she was desperately blinking in the hopes of fighting off the meta’s powers. _Why can’t I do this? Dad would already have cuffed her._

When Nora was hit, Mia was briefly distracted as she looked over at Nora. This momentary lapse in concentration created a window of opportunity for Kaleidoscope to whammy Mia and deal a few blows that knocked her over.

Nora was able to somewhat recover as Kaleidoscope’s powers focused on Mia, and used her speed to slam into Kaleidoscope’s side and snap some meta cuffs around her wrists before she could do anymore damage. Nora dashed off to Central, deposited the meta at CCPD and returned in the blink of an eye, rushing to check if Mia was okay.

The archer was leaning against the wall, wincing as she felt the bruises on her torso and waving her hand in front of her face to try and fight off the lingering effects of being whammied. After some mother-henning from Nora, and reassurances that she really was fine, and of course you’re holding up three fingers, what do you mean there are actually two, I swear I’m actually alright, Nora backed off a bit, calmed down once she saw that Mia was, really, okay.

“D’you wanna go to dinner with me tomorrow, like on a date. With me. Me and you, on a date.” The words were tentatively spoken, as Mia looked at Nora with a sweet smile, then her eyes widened as she noticed that she had, in fact, said that out loud.

Nora froze for a moment, then quickly blurted out “Yes!” as she tried to process what had just happened.

What.

Mia had just asked her out.

_Mia had just asked her out._

Wow.

They both beamed at each other, incredibly relieved that their feelings were reciprocated. Nora felt like she might burst from happiness and exhilaration.

The echo of that feeling stayed with her long after she had gone back home, as she ran in circles around the Speed Lab, running on the walls and ceiling as she hummed, mentally trying to pick out her outfit. She slowed to a stop as her phone buzzed in her pocket. Pulling it out, she grinned at the text message on the screen.

_> 7:00, The Horizon on Fifth and Maine, Star City_   
_U good with that?_   
_< 3_


End file.
